Increasingly, consumers are using mobile devices to perform a variety of personal and professional communications. In fact, it seems that individuals lack common sense and are obsessed with mobile communications. This can create significant safety issues for the mobile device users and for innocent bystanders whom are not engaged in mobile communications.
Nowhere is this safety issue more prevalent than when driving a vehicle. There are enough distractions on the road that driving itself may be considered inherently unsafe. But, when drivers take their eyes off the road even for a split second, accidents can and do happen. Numerous studies have shown that interacting with a mobile device, such as a phone, laptop, or tablet while driving increases the likelihood of an accident by orders of magnitude. The chances of an accident are increased even more when the driver is a new or young driver, such as a teenager or college student.
However, a significant number of drivers are actually engaged in work-related activities while driving and need a mobile device to perform their work while on the road. The employers of these workers are concerned for the safety of their workers and also concerned for the safety of innocent bystanders on the same road as their workers. An injured or dead worker involved in an accident is bad for business and results in loss of business while the company deploys a replacement worker. An injured or dead bystander involved in an accident will result in a very costly settlement or lawsuit for the business to compensate the injured bystander or the family of the bystander. In either case, employers do not want their employees using mobile devices while driving and do not want to leave that decision to their employees to make.
Therefore, there is a need for controlling and monitoring mobile device usage within a vehicle.